Philip Jenkins has written another very challenging, stirring article about the suffering Church in the Middle East- its present holocaust and possible near extinction- but also possible revival in the distant future. The Gates of Hell shall not ultimately prevail! Meanwhile, what are we American Christians to do? [One thing we must do is accept Orthodox Believers as Brothers and Sisters in Christ]

"Have you ever heard the plea, "I want a church where I don't have to leave my mind at the door"? In other words, I will accept religious teachings so long as they do not contradict the orthodoxies of conventional society, the commonplaces of educated opinion. When that opinion runs flat contrary to traditional or scriptural teaching, then secular orthodoxies win every time. In this view, the Bible was put together by quite ignorant folk, constrained by the unscientific worldview of their benighted times, and Christian practice must jog—or gallop—to keep up to date with new secular insights as they develop. When these insights are grounded in the rhetoric of objective science, their claims to allegiance become imperative. That, more or less, has been the justification for many changes in church life over the past few decades, especially in matters of gender and sexual orientation."